Angus deaton

Figure 18. 

Percent of White Non-Hispanic Men Not in the Labor Force, by Birth Cohort

30

20

10

Percent

Percent

 Less than a bachelor’s degree 

 Bachelor’s degree or more 

Sources: Current Population Survey, March supplement; authors’ calculations. 

35

40

45

50

55

30

Age

30

20

10

35

40

45

50

55

Age

30

1930

1940

1980

1970

1960

1950

---

432

 

Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2017

Childbearing is common in cohabiting unions, and again is less dis-

approved of than once was the case. But, as a result, more men lose regular 

contact with their children, which is bad for them, and bad for the chil-

dren, many of whom live with several men during childhood. Some of a  

woman’s partners may be unsuitable as fathers, and those who are suitable 

bring renewed loss to children when it is their turn to depart. It is particu-

larly important that this behavior is more common among white women 

than among Hispanics or African Americans; the latter have more chil-

dren out of wedlock, but have fewer cohabiting partners (Cherlin 2009). 

In Europe, cohabitation is also common, but is much less unstable, and not 

so different from marriage. Cherlin (2014) notes that it is now unusual 

for white American mothers without a college degree not to have a child 

outside marriage. The repeated repartnering in the United States is often 

driven by the need for an additional income, something that is less true in 

Europe, with its more extensive safety net, especially of transfer income; 

Britain, for example, provides unconditional child allowances that are 

attached to children.

Social upheaval may have taken different forms, on average, for African 

Americans. Black kin networks, though often looser, may be more exten-

sive and more protective, as when grandmothers care for children. Black 

churches provide a traditional and continuing source of support. As has 

often been noted, blacks are no strangers to labor market deprivations, and 

may be more inured to the insults of the market.

Figure 19. 

Percent of White Non-Hispanics Never Married, by Birth Cohort

60

40

20

Percent

Percent